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Fastbasher I haven't seen the income yet because theres a league cup first with really small attendences. Right now I'm losing about Ł15-20K a month at -Ł130K balance. As for Udvari, I've sold him he just wouldn't cut it in this league and he would be a bit expensive to have hanging around. My new assistant manager (old one retired) is actually a striker I had at the club in the first season but was a bit rubbish, retired at 30 and became an assman, I think it was a good move hes much better assman than striker.

The greyham - I would have money but I keep using it on improving facilities.

Gilbster - Have you tried 4-1-4-1 and lumping it up forward and using a target man, thats what I did 1st season. Although now I'm using 4-2-4. What I know for the division is you need pace and someone who can finish.

A very difficult season yet again but defiantly an improvement. A youngish squad with very few transfers made this season and a few players out to try and decrease wage budget, Which we were still about €600 over, greedy players. I will be awaiting my scouts for decent players only, will be aiming for mid table next season. O and reaching the final in the cup means EURO CUP LOL

Player of the Season

much better overall but only 1 who stood out again.

Thomas Hyland (DC) - Our best player by averaging rating, he was very solid at the back and is with the club for another season with no intention of leaving, even if we lost 3-4 nil (which we did) he was still our top player.

Very happy with finances, organised plenty of away friendlies to generate as much as possible, with only a average attendance of 237 and wages of 3400 i knew i’d have no chance. The main income otherwise had to be in the cup which generated a massive 227k. Hopefully they will agree to increase the youth facilities

Aims

Try and finish mid season, strengthen the team, mainly the full backs there fairly weak. Do well in the cups again as that generated so much income, upgrade facilities as i prefer trying to bring through my youth.

The greyham - I would have money but I keep using it on improving facilities.

Gilbster - Have you tried 4-1-4-1 and lumping it up forward and using a target man, thats what I did 1st season. Although now I'm using 4-2-4. What I know for the division is you need pace and someone who can finish.

Did you happen to save that tactic, and could I please borrow it if at all possible. Doesn't seem to matter what I do, the other teams are better. I have 4 points out of 14 games, and a 7 point gap to safety.

Did you happen to save that tactic, and could I please borrow it if at all possible. Doesn't seem to matter what I do, the other teams are better. I have 4 points out of 14 games, and a 7 point gap to safety.

I didn't save the original tactic, I didn't actually think about saving it. Only got the 4-2-4 saved.

FM11 seems miles harder to get anywhere without a real tactical knowledge. I can normally bluff and make marginall edits to the default tactics but this year seems to not really be working so well. Really not sure where to go from here.

Apparently the Icelandic season begins with the Icelandic Upper League Cup including all 24 teams from the top 2 divisions, starting with a group stage of 8 teams. Not a great start to the season, as we finished 7th in the group with a 2-1-4 record. My first league season in Iceland was distinctly average. No real fear of relegation, but never close to the promotion places either, we were mid-table throughout the season. We had a surprising run in the Iclandic Cup, reaching the semi final, knocking out Premier Division squad Vikingur before losing to fellow Premier team Fram.

Had a couple big transfers before the season began, who should be familiar to people in this thread. Agents offered me Cristiano and Ibrahim Shikanda, who I proceeded to sign, even though I'll be paying for Christiano for 4 years. Hope he's worth it. He had a solid debut season, being voted fans player of the year, and forming a solid strike partnership with Serbian import Igor Plesic, a holdover from the previous manager.

We had a takeover during the season, unfortunately the new chairman did not provide any funds, but at least I was allowed to keep my job.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the team's performance, especially some of the players who I thought wouldn't be able to cut it at this level. They'll hopefully be gone soon, so let's give them one last moment of glory:

Goals for next season:
1. Hopefully bring in some better players to get promoted, starting with a new keeper, and hopefully a new DC and DL. A couple new midfielders wouldn't hurt either...
2. Do a better rotating the team, as some players who played in Icelandic Cup games were unable to play in the next league game, something that hurt me a few times.
3. Keep tight control of finances. Even using only half my wage budget, we consistently lost money each month, with no real sponsor/TV money to look forward to. Hopefully making the Premier League will help.

PS Thanks to those above who provided some background information on the club. Interesting stuff!

- Our first season in the First Division was definitely a struggle. The transfers were disappointing for a top division, but the fact that we were not allowed any money for them definitely was a hit right in the face, right at the start. We managed to sign some people, and keep the ones who wanted to leave us for better teams. Transfers

- The board did not even act like they didn't know what was waiting for us. They told us they expected us to do our best, and that was it. We were over one mil in the red by the start of the season, and it only got worse throughout the year.

- The year was frustrating, infuriating at times, and in other days I just felt powerless. In some matches, we won deservedly; in others we lost the same way...but there were tons of matches were we lost by one goal and making the exact same effort as to shots on goal, possession, etc. Those points were the ones we would need at the end of the year.

- Even though we were conceding lots of goals and not scoring enough, we even got five points above the relegation zone by the beginning of the last third of the season. We had Ismail Abdul more worried about getting to the WC qualifiers with his country, than about the team, scoring a mere seven goals all year. That definitely hurt us, but not more than the weak defense we had.

- Gregg Belhatler, a north-american defender at 39 years of age joined us in January to try to lift the spirit of the back...and ended up with three yellow cards and two straight red cards in nine games. He definitely screwed up more than helped. We were mistreated by the refs, being the worst team when it comes to red cards...seven in 30 games, or one every 4 games.

- In February, we lost four in a row, and got ourselves back in relegation spots. The end of the season approached...and what was coming would be tough.

- Of the last four games of the season, three were against PAOK, AEK and Olympiakos, or three of the top five teams in the country. In week 27th out of 30, we were leading AEK by 2-0 at home. We had it in our pocket...and one red card by Belthalter had us finish the match with a 2-3 loss. At week 28th, we were a point away from salvation...but with a home game against Olympiakos (1st) and the last match against Ergotelis (7th), away. We needed to beat the champions.

- And we did it! It was an amazing game, too. Over 7,.000 people in our stadium (record so far) saw us beat the best team in Greece 1-0, with a goal in the 88th minute by Spaniard Juan Jose Diaz, who became a legend right then and there. All that, after Olympiakos had a red card after one hour of game and missed a penalty in the 80th minute. Amazing.

- So, with one game to play, we were two above relegation!. We couldn't believe it. We were playing Ergotelis, a team which play for nothing, since they could not qualify for European spots anymore. Iraklis played Aris at home, a team who was playing to keep the 2nd spot in the league...surely they wouldn't be beaten just like that.

- With one point, we were saved.

- The table after 45 minutes of play looked like this.. A team playing for nothing was rolling us over, and on top of that, Iraklis was beating Aris 2-0, like it wasn't even a hassle. We were relegated unless we did something about it. We couldn't relay in Hector Cuper's team.

- But we never got there. we got scored once more at the beginning of the second half, and with a 3-0 loss and Aris looking like they weren't going to do much more, we went all in. We scored twice in the last ten minutes of the game. We had a couple more. Four minutes of extra time. We needed one goal to avoid relegation.

One single goal.

It never happened.

Iraklis won, we lost, and we were the relegated ones. Heart-breaking, but the board is still happy that we fought down to the very last day. Now, onto the bad (worse) news. We received 600k E for our position, which leaves us with 1,5m Euro in debt...and back in League 2. We are not going to have money for players, and three key players are already being sold as we speak, since they do not want to go back to League 2. As of today, we have 13 players in the first tea, who are staying for next season. We'll try to find quality players and go from there.

In the nation's Cup, we got to the quarter finals, where we lost against a Superliga team home, 0-2, shooting more and deserving more. Oh well.

Somehow, I think a possible return to League 1 will be way, way more difficult than it was a year ago.

So then, our first match with a player missing out through injury – and it’s the influential forward Michal Bala. We were to face Dolcan Zabki at home. They currently sit 17th in the table, that’s one off bottom. Oh, and they haven’t won in 16 matches, dating back to last season. No pressure, then…

Game #13: (H) Dolcan Zabki 1-1
Very, very disappointing game and result for us. They controlled possession, which is nothing too surprising, considering my tactics don’t exactly place an emphasis on ball retention. However, what was really disheartening was the lack of chances we fashioned. Krzysztof Trela scored his first for the club with a sliding effort, but other than that, it was a game bereft of any real quality from both teams. Considering Dolcan’s form, I really expected much better from us. Hope playing down to the competition’s level doesn’t become a habit.

Game #14: (A) Pogon Szczecin 1-1
Well, if I had any lingering doubts as to whether we’d be able to shrug off the home draw with Dolcan of 4 days ago, they were dispelled in great measure early, as we scored from the opening kickoff with a great team goal – the little creative spark Bartosz Kozakiewicz this time applying a deft finish for his 4th league goal in 12 starts. Most of the Pogon fans amongst the 2,998 in attendance hadn’t even managed to settle in their seats before their side fell a goal behind. We had the upper hand against our 13th placed opponents, until Bartosz Lawa scored a wondergoal from what had to be 30 yards just before the half hour mark, that is. Pogon easily passed it through our midfield and our 4 defenders stood like statues in unison, failing to close down the onrushing midfielder. From that point on, we held on for dear life, it seemed. Wave after wave of Pogon attack came at us. They simply seemed faster, stronger, more technical – we were being played off the park. Still, we had an decent opportunity just before the half, and a golden opportunity at about the hour mark. Both on the counter attack, both spurned. On another day we might have taken those chances. At least that’s why I keep telling myself, anyway. Ironically, despite the opponents hitting the woodwork 3 times and carving out 4 clear cut chances, it was our Kozakiewicz who was deemed Man of the Match.

Game #15: (H) Rakow Czestochowa 1-0
For our 3rd game in 8 days, we entertained fellow promoted side Rakow Czestochowa. Like ourselves, they were defying expectations, sitting prettily in 13th place. The first 20 minutes of the match belonged to us. We were the only team creating chances. Unfortunately, our finishing seems to have deserted us. We couldn’t capitalize on our chances, and as the half wore on, Rakow started to get a foothold in the match, even hitting a crossbar. I introduced Wocial at the break as a replacement up front, and he made me look like a genius, capping off a classic counterattacking move with a cool finish. Though not for lack of intent, we failed to increase our lead, and this led to some nervy moments. Rakow whipped in a cross from the right late on that caused panic and disorder in our penalty area, but our defense manfully blocked about 3 consecutive attempts before the danger was averted. A deserved victory on the balance of the game.

So, our first win in 4 matches leaves us in 4th place after 15 matches, 5 points off second, and thus, a promotion place. Our most important matches are the next 4, which will take us into the winter break. In my opinion, they will serve as the best litmus test for the team yet. In that 4 game stretch, we’ll be playing the league leaders away, 7th and a strong 9th at home, followed by 10th away. Whether or not we have the quality to get results before the winter break will tell me a lot about the team and if we do, I’ll go in confident that we can secure promotion. Failure to do so will probably lead me to think about playing another year in the division and consolidating.

I’m a little concerned with 2 things. First, the fact that, despite still being third in the division in goals, we just aren’t scoring the way we used to. I could put this down to Bala’s absence, but it’s that’s really no excuse. And secondly, and arguably importantly, I am having a bit of problem with unsettled players. A few have demanded new contracts, as they’re unhappy with the current level of their wages. I’ve managed to talk a some into proving they deserve new contracts, a couple were more bullish in their approach. Given that I’ve promised them new deals, my failure to do so ultimately results in them handing in transfer requests. Now, I’ve given in to the demands of most, offering bumper deals to my more important players. However, I’m really worried that if this keeps happening, it could ruin the squad’s morale and end up sending a promising season down the tubes.
NEXT UPDATE: The aforementioned important matches prior to winter break.

Great writeup, Twellman24. I like your style. That sounded like a really monumental victory against Olympiakos. I almost felt like I was there with you and by the end of your post, I was rooting so hard for you to find that one goal you needed. Looks like next sseason will be an eventful one for sure. A new chapter in Panachaiki history will be written, but let's hope that despite the financial state of the club, you can strengthen properly and bounce straight back up!

Great writeup, Twellman24. I like your style. That sounded like a really monumental victory against Olympiakos. I almost felt like I was there with you and by the end of your post, I was rooting so hard for you to find that one goal you needed. Looks like next sseason will be an eventful one for sure. A new chapter in Panachaiki history will be written, but let's hope that despite the financial state of the club, you can strengthen properly and bounce straight back up!

I agree, that really was an epic end to your relegation battle. Too bad you didn't have a little more luck. Maybe next time?

Tomek, well done on the 4th place. Good luck in those season changing games.

Originally Posted by croman.TIR669

Awful start to the season, I doubt I will stay here until the end... In friendlies, we play great, pure, fluid football with minimum mistakes and lots of shots/goals. In the league, we mostly don't play... Three or four shots on goal is a maximum for us.

If I don't see any positive stuff more often, I will be glad to leave Gorodeya.

Table and fixtures after 8 games played.
As you can see, we did great in friendly games, but then lost the touch. After that, I did some tweaks to the tactic (i.e playing with DM-MC instead of MC-MC) and it worked! We played some friendlies to see if it's working. Table and fixtures now. In the league, we haven't lost a single match in three months (8 games unbeaten). League fixtures. We also won the away match against league leaders Gomel by 2-0. Now it's getting better.

This is going to be a long, hard season Played the two worst teams in the division (apart from us, that is) and lost one 4-2, drew the other 1-1. Will have to rethink my tactics a bit... Finally remembered match preparation, set it to defensive set pieces, been conceding an absolute shedload from those

Yet another busy summer for us in the transfer market as I let a lot of players go in order to replace them with a group who I felt would serve us better in a chase for a top half finish. A few mistakes but on the whole things went well. The signing of Cristiano turned out to be inspired and he propelled us up the table as a poacher alongside another new signing Jan Rezek who acted as a target man who we launched balls up to from all angles.

My main mistake was worrying about bringing some money in during the January window from players who would be out of contract in the summer. I sold a striker who wasn't getting much of a look in to the team who eventually won the league and he scored 11 in 15 for them in the run-in which potentially lost me the title but in all honesty I was sat in 2nd for almost the entire second half of the season so no complaints from me.

I really don't know what to do this summer. Four players are retiring and two return from loan to their clubs but the rest of the overpopulated squad stays intact. Not a massive amount of quality so I may have to bring in a few new players to beef up the first team but we'll see who is around. My scouts are completely useless and regularly come back to me saying that they have finished scouting a certain country and found nobody so my prospects are bleak.

It's also just been announced that a new stadium will be built with a 5000 capacity so that's all very exciting, let's hope we have First Division games there for the forseeable.

My first ever season in Northern Ireland, and I decided to pick the manage the smallest, crappiest team I could find, and make them world beaters... enter Dunloy, with an obscure reputation, a stadium of 625 people and no facilities, no staff at all, a team full of ametures playing for nothing, and very little money to pay for wages... this certainly would be a challenge!

The first thing that struck me was how bad my players were - after reviewing them, I moved them all into the reserved, and proceeded to sign 15 players (10 of which were over 30 years old!) and a staggering 17 loanees (15 of which were under 21 years old) - not very sustainable long term, but the board wouldn't allow me to pay half decent wages!

The team played well from the start of the season, and I spent most of it top of the table, but never more than a point or two from the rest of the pack. However, coming into the last game of the season I was 2nd, I point from top spot, but with 4 teams vying for the top 2 spots - A win would do it, anything else and results would need to go my way.

Things were looking good early in the last game of the season, with Dunloy going 1-0 early, but then with 10 minutes to go it became 1-1, and suddenly I dropped to 3rd on the live league table! I was ready to cry, but thankfully a late goal in one of the other games saw first drop down to third, and I managed to sneak into 2nd place on goal difference! Very lucky, but I'll take it!

As well as the performance in the League, we did well in the Cups, making two Quarter Finals, one Fifth Round and one Fourth Round, and funnily enough every team that knocked me out of the cups went on to win them!

Of the players I did bring into the squad, there were probably two stand outs:

Bob Malcolm, 31yo M/DM/D (C): The scottish vetran, with history at Rangers and Dundee, was by far the best player in my team, and I'd say the best player in the league! (and the coaches think he is more than twice the player of our 2nd best defender or midfielder). Although he was quite injury prone, he managed 37 games at 7.12, and picked up fans player of the year... altough his $875 a week wage was by far the highest in the division.

Richard Walker, 31yo, D (C): An Englishman who came from League Two side Macclesfield, he was another that was too good for this league, and the coaches all agree he would be a leading star for most First Division sides. Whilst he has a lot of low stats, his key stats of Jumping, Heading, Tackling, Marking, Positioning, Strength, Anticipation, etc are ALL in double figures, which at this standard is unheard of. Managed 37 games at 7.11

As far as the loanees went, they all did ok, but the best of the lot, and top scorer, was 18 year old William Davies from a First Division Club. Whilst again a lot of low stats, the main stats are all decent, and managing 16 goals, 7 assists and 6 MOM at 7.15 from 32 games isn't bad either!

As far of finances went, I was over the wage budget from the start of the season, and an average attendance of 31 (by far the lowest in the league) at $9 a ticket didn't raise much money, but thankfully the board kept pumping money in when needed - of the $330k total income generated this season, $225k was through investments by the board!

Anoyingly, no youth prospect look to have joined the club (is this normal?), and the new wage budget for First Division is still under the actual wages, so it looks like I'm going to have to go looking for more loan players in order to get a competitive side on the park - wish me luck!

I'm wondering whether whoever coined the phrase "things can only get better" ever managed my lousy excuse for a football team... Another loss, firmly rooted in the relegation zone and my only left wingback gets injured

Most definitely, have been winning games 3-0, 4-1,etc. Have spent about Ł500k, but wage limit now reached. Missed an opportunity to add a couple of exciting Argentinian midfielders that were offered to me due to wage restrictions being in place. Looking forward to drawing a 1st division opponent in the cup to see how I compare against them.

I'm really thinking of starting over in Scandinavia. This Hungarian save is driving me up the wall with frustration and I've not had a single good game or even good passage of play in something around 10 games ffs. My expensive striker has scored 3 goals in 14 games, 2 of those came when we were 4-0 down in the cup. Quite simply fed up.

Actually, I am starting over, just got to decide which Nordic country to choose

A pretty solid first season for me, finishing in a comfortable midtable 8th. I am loving how much shorter the seasons are than in England. I am still tinkering with tactics and hope to use my time in the challenge league creating something I am happy to take up to the Super League.

Also must apologise for the short updates. I have whizzed through the first couple seasons and so havent taken screenshots/written as have gone along. Something which I will change from season 3 or 4 onwards.

well, 4 games into the season, i have my first win in Wales. the fixture list wasnt kind, with TNS at home first, Neath (who won the league last season) away 2nd, then Airbus third. i managed a draw with airbus, but these 2 goals gave me a win against Haverfordwest to kickstart my spluttering campaign

Started again in Sweden. Going to make a more determined effort this time, including posting an update for every month or two instead of an entire season. To that end, here's the first update, before I press continue so much as once

The assman thinks the squad is pretty good, apart from lacking a good right back. The staff is a bit different to what I'm used to. I have a 28 year old player/assman and a 32 year old player/gk coach. Then I've got another GK coach and a fitness coach. Starting to think this team might be a front for some dirty business!

Checking the rules of the league I see that it's a regular double round robin, so 22 games in all. An interesting rule is in place, the match squad must contain at least 9 players who have been trained in Sweden before the age of 21.

I set up 3 different formations for team training. First is a simple 4-4-2 with everything on defaults, second a defensive 4-5-1 and the third an attacking 4-4-2 diamond.

That'll do for now, next update will arrive just before the first league game, when I've made most of my transfers and such 'mon the agents!

After my dismal failure with Barry Town, I took my holiday person save game, relaoded it a few times and came up with the idea of being manager of Afan Lido.

They looked a better squad than I was expecting, but given my recent managerial track record I wasn't too hopeful.

My first tasks were to find a scout and assistanct manager that would actually come to the club for the peanut wages I was able to offer. With that sorted, I had to find some improved players.

I ended up bringing in a lot of players on free transfers, and had some hope.

The first few games were overall better than I was expecting, in that I managed to get a point within the first few competitive games. At one point I was even hopeful we wouldnt end up in a full blown relegation scrap, but it turns out the team's weakness was scoring goals. As a result, we could get draws, and only an odd win if exceptionally lucky.

Happily though the final table looks good, in that we are still in the division. Which is all I could have wantted at the start of the season.

My hopes for next season, survive again and somehow find a strikeforce from somewhere. I have quite a few players leaving at the end of the season, including some that had been pre-signed for me, before I had started in charge.

Hopefully we can make some progress next season, and not still possibly be relegated come the last day of the season.

Transfers - Strengthening positions really. I signed Billy Bodin to see if I could sign anyone from the national team. He doesnt get capped but he still gets called up for the Wales squad.

Competitions

Welsh Premier - Table - 1st undefeated season, next objective is to win everygame. The league shouldn't be too far off of imrpoving to 1.5 * which should help the AI improve the quality of players they are signing to make it more of a contest.

Champions League - Group Stages - A tougher group then last year so I don't care that I came bottom. I got a win in a group stage in any European competition, only took 3 seasons as well The unlucky team who lost were Spurs, the draw was against Valencia.

Welsh Cup - Winners - Edged a close game, but was fielding a slight weakened team as I've started rotating the squads.

League Cup - Winners - I am glad I won this due to the fact that the refs helped TNS get to the final. Justice prevails as I was hoping for a ding dong battle against Airbus, but instead I end up against TNS as Airbus had 3 goals ruled out in the 2nd leg which would had put them through 4-3 on agg instead of losing 3-1.

After three seasons of struggle, this season really did seem too easy. As the transfer summary shows, with only four players in, the players really did get a chance to gel together. This is a stark contrast to the previous two seasons where an excess of 20 players each season were signed.

The League
We really did dominate this. After a slightly slow start the team gelled and there was no looking back. At one point we had stormed out to an 8 point lead and were winning games with ease. As this graph shows, there was a slight blip towards the end where we conceded the odd late goal and let wins slip to draws, but it always looked like we had the quality and stormed home to victory.

The Cup
We were somewhat fortunate in this to receive some very easy teams in the draw and avoid all the big guns. After finally facing weakish top flight opposition in the quarterfinal, Diósgyör severely underperformed and we managed to sneak the tie on away goals. Its probably fair to say they were lucky to be that close as well.
The semi final drew us against a surprise package in non league giant killers Veszprém we blew them off the park in the home leg 4-1. I was still wondering how on earth they made it to the semis, when they came back at us in the away leg. We eventually lost 5-2, but went into the final on away goals for the second tie in a row. As a result of this 6-6 aggregate, Veszprém broke the record for most goals scored in the Hungarian cup, and we broke the record for most conceded. Who cares, we're in the final
The final threw up a David vs Goliath clash as we met Hungarian champions Debrecen. The team were not overawed however, after beating Diósgyör once and having a couple of friendly wins against top flight opposition, they proved they could have a go at them.
Things went well in the first half the defence were superb and we even carved out a couple of chances. We were gutted to concede right on halftime and go into the dressing room 1-0 down. Still the boys came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, and were perhaps a bit too exuberant as Cameroonian youth international Francis Manga got sent off in the 60th minute. Debrecen missed the penalty but we unable to breakthough and the score remained 1-0. Still to push them close, only losing 1-0 to the best team in Hungary in a big game is an encouraging sign.

The Team
So many players played well, it is difficult to mention them all. Last years promising defender, Gábor Ludánszki had another good season. He is up to 9 Hungarian under 21 caps and got a goal as well. He also won the young player of the year award for the Division II East. Kornél Fischer, a product of our own youth academy managed to get third in the young player of the season award, despite not being a first team regular.
The goals came from former Barcelona, Celta de Vigo and Norwich City journeyman, Goran Maric and rising Hungarian star Roland Vólent who made huge improvements since last season.

Finances
The board chipped in Ł150k to help the club continue, but it is still a drop in the bucket. We got very little for our league win and cup runner up place. Attendances did rise slightly, but we are still 500k in debt. Hopefully gate takings, sponsorship and television money in the top flight take care of this, but it wont happen overnight.

The season ahead will be a fun one. The club has just turned professional and have given me a transfer budget of Ł2k, and an increase in the wage budget to Ł15k per week. Presumably to turn all the contracts full time.

Tough but exciting times ahead at Városi Stadion

Last edited by Fastbasher; 10-11-2010 at 17:29.
Reason: fixed link for Maric

BWG, some of your players actually look like they can play football now a big improvement. Can you add some more detail on the European matches though, thats where the challenge is at for you now (and partly for me too, looks very likely I will be in Europe next season, but not champions league).

Careful Fastbasher, don't underestimate Honka even though I did just beat them 6-1 away in Espoo

They have no players at the moment, so hard to gauge them. Anyway, have to get past Glenavon first. The off season is proving difficult to get decent players to sign. Even half decent ones want Ł1k per week.

Preseason went well, especially as I brougt in 6 players for sell on clauses only. They are all significantly better than the current players so if they don't keep me up, nothing will! About to play my first league match now. Next update will come sometime tomorrow, probably after around 5 league games

I had a pretty good attempt at this challenge last year, and got about 10 seasons in Denmark in - but FM11 came around too fast for me to see it through to the conclusion.

So, I'll be returning to Denmark this time around - FC Djursland, my previous club, got promoted in real life so they aren't available for the challenge, so I've moved on to Frederiksberg Boldklub (or FB for short). They're in the Second Division East and are a team from Copenhagen, which I'm hoping in the long term means we've got a more populated catchment area and therefore a larger potential fan base. It'll be a while before we have to worry about filling more than about 2% of our 5,000 capacity stadium though.

Norway was always going to be the country that i would start this adventure, but the question was which team? Did i opt for a new club or one that i took to greatness in a former version of this challenge. Well i loaded up the leagues and was working my way through the 4 different Second Division sub-leagues in the Norwegian bottom tier. I was busy looking at all of the different teams and then i stumbled upon the team that took my fancy. So here we have it!

So that is a very brief over view of what's happened in my game. I have recruited a fair number of new players and have changed to the Group 2 of the Second Division, not sure why!
We're aiming for promotion, but with only the top place team gaining promotion it will be tough

Wow, got some excitement in the early Euro ties.
After dispatching Glenavon 5-0(h) and 0-1(a), I was off to Finland. Honka won the away leg 2-0, and we were only 1-0 up at home deep in stoppage time when my tactical substitution (in the 72nd min) of Brazilian Dyjan Azevedo came through and scored the equaliser on aggregate and send it to extra time. He scored again in the 97th min and Maric made it safe in the 112th.
The refs were a bit trigger happy. 9 yellows and a red in the first leg, 10 yellows in the second leg.

Our reward is a money spinning trip to Rangers in the 3rd qualifying round. Looks like finances might be taken care of.

The one mil i was supposed to get "throughout the year" never really happened, or if it did, nothing changed. We're still bleeding money and we are close to 2 mil in debt...and back in League 2. Greece's money sucks

And the board wants me to cut 500k Euros in salaries AND win the league and promotion. WTF.

iseemonster, I have a Mac, and all I have to do is Command+Shift+4, and then I just drag and drop the square wherever I want the screen. It rocks not having to crop anything, just take a screen of just a table, or a player's screen, etc. Try it!

The Finnish cup is a bit strange, theres no seeding and the premier league sides enter quite early so theres a big chance of lower sides getting through. This was to my advantage as by the time I reached the final I was to face non-league opposition.

The timing for a giant killing by them couldn't have been worse, they meet a Santa Claus team that has won 10 league matches in a row and with 4 quality strikers all in form. So obviously the match finished 7-0. We are the champions!

I don't think I've ever had a player in form quite like Timo Furuholm, hes amazing.

We had a bit of a slow start in Veikkausliiga and hovered around midtable for the first few matches. Meanwhile HJK raced away to a massive lead. Pretty soon though my strikers turned hot, very hot. At the start of the run HJK were 13 points clear of 2nd place and we were in 5th. In the next 14 matches we scored 50 goals, conceding just 6, all victories (one being the cup final). This left us 4 points behind HJK with 2 games left to play, it was still possible but then we lost to Lahti 1-0, damn. Still a fantastic season.

- Hey, there is no money for new players.
- Oh, and also you have to cut the budget by 500.000 euros.
- By the way, we expect to come back to the Superliga.
- As champions.
- Never mind, even though you are the best defense in any Greek team in any league this year, and you are five points away from automatic promotion and one point away form the promotion group stage, you are fired. Doesn't even matter that you renewed your contract to make 60 euros per year just to help the club. You're out.
- By the way, thanks for our first promotion to the Superliga in 11 years. See ya.

Well, blessing in disguise. Hanged around until June of next year and saw that Asteras Tripoleos just got promoted to the Second Division. They have 2 mil in the bank, offer 200k for signings, and expect to be mid table this year. I'll take it. And we'll see how it goes. So let's just assume this guy is the evil twin of the manager who retired a few months back I guess.

My first personal goal will not be mid table. Or promotion. It will be crashing those ingrateful ******** at Panachaiki. They finished 10th. Ha.

Let’s get right to it, then. Our next match was away to table topping Gornik Leczna. Like I mentioned previously, we might be facing them at the perfect time due to injuries and suspensions to their key players. Their form has been the definition of sketchy lately, as they’ve alternated wins and losses in their last 6 games. However, I know it will be anything but an easy task. As a matter of fact, out of respect to the quality of the opposition, I sprung a few tactical surprises for this match. I took out our leading scorer and the creative hub of the team, Bartosz Kozakiewicz and drafted in 6’7” DMC Michal Trzeciakiewicz. Mmmmm, 19 jumping. Also, the fit again Michal Bala return to the starting lineup in a new role. As opposed to the poacher’s role he previously was employed in, I decide to utilize his well-rounded physical stats (for the division) and use him as a target man, with Tomasz Urban along side.

Game #16 : (A) Gornik Leczna 1-1
The game began exactly as I expected it to, with us attempting to soak up pressure, but Gornik decidedly on the front foot, generating chances. A Gornik cross from deep led to a corner, which led to the first goal of the game, just before the half hour mark. They continued to pass the ball around and probe for openings, as we were content to sit deep. Gornik Leczna were encamped in our half. The second half began in the same vein. We hadn’t even managed so much as a shot on target. But I felt that as long as the difference was only one goal, I felt that, however slight, there was a chance. In the 83rd minute, our keeper Anusiewicz made a good save, making himself big to prevent the game from slipping out of reach. In added time, we poured forward and a long ball played down the right channel led to a free kick for us from a good position on the right side of the area. Our usual DMC, who was pushed forward as a box to box mid in this match, bent in a quality free kick, which their keeper could only push out right to the feet of our tower of strength at the back, Lewandowski. He reacted quickly to slot in. From a set piece, our only shot on target of the match was the equalizer in injury time. Good teams take advantage of situations like that. Wait….did I just call us a good team?

Game #17: (H) GKP Gorzow 1-0
A rather boring first half against a very decent Gorzow side. We arguably had the better of the play, with Bala’s lack of composure leading to a one on one opportunity going to waste. In the 2nd half, it was much of the same, it was a game without much incident. The game sprung to life, though, when Mazurkiewicz popped up with another goal from a set piece for us – turning in Trela’s delivery. It produced a very tense finale, with Anusiewicz proving his worth with a fantastic save late on to preserve the victory for us.

Game #18: (H) GKS Katowice 2-2
With a two week break between our win against Gorzow and this fixture, a record crowd of 700 was expected to turn up at Tadeusza Slusarskiego. I was anxious to see how we’d perform. Unfortunately, we’d be weakened before a ball was even kicked, since our starting keeper, the in form Anusiewicz, would miss out with the flu. The eccentric, old keeper and captain, Bulka would take his place – but hopefully we won’t need him to perform any heroics in this match. The story of this match? The bitter taste of throwing away 2 points. Our first goal came in the 36th minute. Mikhalevskyi, recalled for this match, crossed from the left, and it bounced off the keeper’s legs and in. We were pegged back immediately and as a result the match was finely poised until the hour mark. It was then that we took the lead, scoring a wonderful goal on the counter. Bala, who was moved to the right wing during the match, played a great ball for substitute striker Urban, and he bore down with Mikhalevskyi for support, 2 on 1. His square pass allowed Mikhalevskyi to slot into an empty net with his left foot. The crowd went mental. We withstood waves of Katowice attacks. I was a nervous wreck during this match, couldn’t even bare to look at times, such was the importance of these 3 points, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the pressure told and we capitulated 3 minutes before time, their striker making space for himself in the box and redirecting a good cross from their left into the net. Gutted with the draw.

Game #19: (A) Flota Swinoujscie
It was a tepid affair in the first half, with 10th place Flota having the better of the chances. Probably contributing to this was my decision to go back to my 4-1-3-2 variant. Fortunately for us, their finishing was absolutely dire. In the second half, there were some definite talking points, with Ukranian striker Mihalevskyi involved in nearly all of them. First, he contrived to miss two great opportunities. The second was especially clear cut – when a cool head was required to take it round the keeper, he decided to blast it straight at him. Then, when, substitute Wocial had claims for a stonewall penalty turned down, the team was incensed. Especially Mikhalevskyi. Normally, I wouldn’t have a huge problem with displays of passion like that – except the striker was on a yellow card. Bye bye, he got sent off for dissent. And with us having gone down a goal after a comical Trela own goal early in the second half, things did not look promising. 10 minutes remained for us to try to sneak a result. And we got it, thanks to some route one football. We bypassed the midfield, with Wocial latching on to a long ball, using his fresh legs to outstrip the defenders and arrowing an unstoppable effort high into the far corner. Job done.

In 6 of our last 7 games, we have only managed to score only one goal. We’ve managed to stay undefeated through that streak, ironically. But where that becomes problematic is that 5 of those games have ended in draws. Our improved defense and never say die attitude have been admirable, no question. But the harsh reality is that we’re losing sight of the promotion chasers with every draw and that’s a bit demoralizing, to be honest.

Speaking of morale, my left backs don’t seem to like each other very much. I’ve been rotating them all season based on merit and a few days prior to the Flota match, Klecz announced that he found Nowotka, who had just happened to be enjoying a run in the team, impossible to work with. Hmmmph….my players. If they’re not moaning about their contracts, they’re bitching about each other.

ANALYSIS: Winter break has arrived in Poland and my honest appraisal is that I doubt we have the quality to keep pace with the promotion chasing pack this season. I’d love to be proven wrong in the end, but my instinct is telling me that it may be too tall an order for our squad this season. Through 19 games, meaning over half of the season, this is the table. As you can see, we’re sitting 5th in a very condensed table, currently 6 points from promotion. As I mentioned in the previous post, though unbeaten in our 7, we’ve drawn 5 of those games, which has seen the gap swell. What is this down to? Our away form and our inability to score on our travels. At the friendly confines of Taduesza Slusarskiego, we are performing brilliantly, with 7 wins, 2 draws and only 1 loss. In those games, we are averaging over 2 goals per game. On our travels, however, were are managing only one per game and have won only once all season. If we’re to have any chance of promotion, we’ll definitely need to be turning a few more of those draws into wins. And this goes back to my comment on the quality of the squad – maybe we just don’t have that extra bit of quality to do that this season?

Regardless, during the winter break, I will be assessing the squad in depth and scouting the region for talent. Maybe I’ll be able to strengthen the squad once the transfer window opens. The problem is, though I do have about 2k per week to play with in terms of wages, I have players committed to contracts and don’t want to bloat the squad unnecessarily.

As a first time manager in the lower leagues, it’s definitely a lot to think about and analyze, but I’m still having a great time doing it.

KEY PLAYERS OF THE FIRST HALF:

Tomasz Lewandowski – a tower of strength at the back. The rock upon which our defense is built. Immense in the air.

Jaroslaw Mazurkiewicz – The picture of consistency. I use him as a DM, he’s also chipped in with an impressive 7 assists.

Bartosz Kozakiewicz – Great at arriving late in the box to turn in crosses. Leads the counter attack with his dribbling and incisive passes. Very creative, calm on the ball. Probably the only player on my team that can play one touch football effectively.

Anyways, I dropped the Belarus challenge, just like Twellman24. After I got relegated, I did not have the inspiration to start over or to continue. Holidaying Norway but I think I'm gonna go either for Iceland, Greece or Ukraine.

Good to see a couple of people taking on the challenge in Northern Ireland - been working hard to make the lower league structures in N.I. more realistic - still a work in progress but it certainly looks improved from previous games - especially the finances and youth recruitment. Dunloy signing Bob Malcolm though is still unrealistic - for a number of reason, will have to look into the reps and reduce them even further for some clubs, also will look at the transfer preference options

the greyham, good to see you managing in Ireland as well - although Salthill doesn't fit in with Gundo's criteria - I know that the play-off is annoying but it's reality - just this week Salthill beat Cobh Ramblers to stay in the First Division for next season in real life. If you want to do it properly, what I'd suggest is save the game the night before the play-offs - keep reloading until the bottom club get beat and hey presto, you'll have a new club to manage and in turn, fit in with the criteria of this thread. Not having a pop, just trying to help!

Twellman24 - I hope you crush that ungrateful club. Good luck in Croatia Konquest. KUTGW everyone

Bridgend Town - Principality Welsh Premier League - 2018/19

Transfers - None were made as there were no players who could improve the squad were interested.

Competitions

Welsh Premier - Table - The quality of my team is just too great at the moment but this was the last season of the Welsh Prem being 1*. It will be a bit tighter overall in the future not necessarily at the top because I am not going to be relenquishing my crown any time soon.

Champions League - Group Stages - 1st up in the competition were Olimpija in the 2nd qualifier, disposed of them 6-1 on agg.(1st leg:2nd leg). Next up was Slovan Liberec of Czech Republic, over the 2 legs we won 7-0 on agg. (1st leg:2nd leg). I was greeted with my toughest draw I've had in the champions playoff, I was drawn against Standard Liege. We won 4-1 on agg, the 1st leg we should had lost although the 2nd was more comfortble.(1st leg:2nd leg). After that battle I was greeted with the group of death, 1 draw and 5 deafeats later I was out. The draw was against Wolfsburg, although I did get beat by Lyon 4-3 in the last game but they went on to win the competition.

Welsh Cup - Winners - I just love beating TNS as its so satisfying. Its a shame dynamic rivalry isn't in the game as they are my rivals for now.

Welsh League Cup - Winners - Was very one sided then my players fell asleep in the last 5 minutes and they managed to score.

No Youth Prospects this Yeat but facilites are being improves so chances will be greater of more break through stars.

Expectations

Same as Every year, to continue dominating and improving where needed.

Domestically will be more challenging hopefully as the Welsh Premier is now ranked at 149th and is rated at 1.5*. Its now bigger then the Icelandic Premier Division WOOOOOO!!!! Time to go back in for that Icelandic centre mid I like the look of

Decided this is the challenge for me this year. Always wanted to do it with Northern Ireland but been waiting on dynamic
leagues, so with that now in the game I think its time will be wiping the pc tonight and hopefully will get set up in the Northern Irish leagues tomorrow evening.

Just had an enjoyable read through of some of the updates above, great stuff all round

Great progress B.W.G., you are absolutely flying which makes it all the more fun to witness the progression. BWZ_Tomek, good luck for your second half of the campaign, I am sure you will be there or thereabouts by the final gameweek. Twellman24 I would have been absoltuely mortified to have seen that message and I wouldn't have come back for more punishment so good on you for doing that, it looks like you've landed on your feet though And great stuff Quackje, enjoy your European adventure

I realise there are plently more updates flying about now and I have read them all but I should really be working, so good luck to one and all! I have an update of my own to write up later which is very exciting indeed.

Are the other teams starting to get better players in BWG, your regular group stage visits are clearly making a difference but how far does it go?

That is a premature sacking indeed Twellman.

Not at the moment, theres only really TNS who are trying to get better players in. The others are just seem to be signing players released from other Welsh clubs. This is TNS stand out player...Chris White...his report says he is a Leading Welsh Prem Player, can't believe my scouts missed that one.This next one was a transfer battle between me and TNS which I won...Lewis Macey. This shows that at least another team is trying to get better quality in.

I am so lucky, that there's one team that sucks more than I do. 8 games in, 2 draws and 6 losses. But beacause only 1 team gets relegated, I still hope for survival. Telstar is rock bottom with 9 straight losses, so hopefully I will survive this year.

Quackje - I think I have a theory for the lower reputation clubs. For the lower reputation clubs to sign better players, they need to perform better in higher reputation competitions. With this being the 1st full season at being 1.5* then where ever the clubs finish in the league should help gain them a better reputation and help attract better players.

The bigger reputation clubs in the league already have high enough reputation from being in Europe constantly so would have less affect on them. The best bet for this would be see who teams are going after once the season is over which for me will be the the summer window in 2020

As for the finance side, I got Ł122,500 for TV rights for this season which would probably help teams if they get similar amounts.

croman and the greyham, wasn't intentional. I just blame the fact that it was very late at night and I was tired. Tomaldinho - thanks and let's hope I can make a big second half push for promotion.

B.W.G. - very good update, as usual. Great to see the Welsh division making strides. You were unlucky to get such a difficult group in the Champions League. I have a funny feeling though that this is the year you'll make it out of the group stage, though.

Thanks BWZ, although I don't have your optimism for getting out of the groups stages as I've been drawn against Barcelona, Inter Milan and Rangers so 3rd is achievable. So technically I could get out the group stages